Kalk dosing (still container vs reactor)

[Kika]

Question for the chemist folks. In this video tidal gardens explained how they dose Kalk at their farm. Essentially they use a still container instead of a reactor and solution or mix is dose 24/7 via a versa dosing pump.

Question is, isn’t Kalk suppose to be stirred periodically or constantly? Of course it’s tidal gardens and the method works just asking for a friend …

Video link:

 

[Saltyreef]

No need to stir once saturated

 

[Kika]

Thank you. That said, seems like a great DIY, instead of buying an expensive kalk reactor…

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Dosing from an unstirred reservoir is, IMO, the best way to do it. Stirring depletes it if CO2 can enter. I used Brute cans this way for 20 years.

 

[Saltyreef]

Thank you. That said, seems like a great DIY, instead of buying an expensive kalk reactor…

I believe reactors/stirrers have their place. Some tanks comsume more than kalk can realistically keep up with when implemented with ATO. Ive seen a couple tanks with kalk stirrer and a calcium reactor setups running together.

 

[Kika]

Dosing from an unstirred reservoir is, IMO, the best way to do it. Stirring depletes it if CO2 can enter. I used Brute cans this way for 20 years.

Thank you Randy! Another question from me is, can one use a different pump than stepper motored ones ? For example I have a hydros 2ml/ min pump and my tank is ~130 G total volume …

I can see the benefit/ caution of dosing very slow over a course of 24hrs but just asking before I buy one of these.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Thank you Randy! Another question from me is, can one use a different pump than stepper motored ones ? For example I have a hydros 2ml/ min pump and my tank is ~130 G total volume …

I can see the benefit/ caution of dosing very slow over a course of 24hrs but just asking before I buy one of these.

YOu can use any pump that delivers slowly enough. 2 mL per min seems OK.

You might be wanting to add 0.5 to 3 gallons per day, and 2 ml per min is 0.8 gallons per day. You can also put it on a timer.